It's A Beautiful Day to Save Lives
by unnamedconspirator
Summary: In Honor of Patrick's last episode, I am reposting this. Penny makes an effort to redeem herself and makes a phone call. Derek's last moments are shared with Amelia by Winnie, the young girl involved in the accident before his death. Winnie even makes an impression on Meredith.
1. Chapter 1

**AN** I got this idea after watching 12x05. It just seemed really fitting that Penny could Help Amelia with some closure. And I thought the best way would be for her to introduce her to Winnie from 11x21.

I am still Working on my other fic, The Call, which will be updated soon.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own these characters**

 **A Beautiful Day to Save Lives**

"We don't have time for a CT-"

"I just think that-"

"There's no time!"

Penny bolted up in the bunk at the on call room. She rubbed her eyes and sighed. Her pager beeped again-911 in the pit. She grabbed her white coat and ran out the door.

The next six hours went by as a blur. Until the MVA came in. The patient on the gurney was conscious but had multiple internal injuries. Penny sucked in a breath. "Page Kepner!" She called, before she rattled off the tests and treatments she needed. "GCS is 10, we're going to need a CT scan before we get him into the OR."

"The bleeding is pretty bad- shouldn't we do an ex-lap?"

"We will, after the CT. Come on lets go now!" Penny pushed the gurney into the elevator.

"Dr. Blake!" Another voice called, it was Kepner. She ran into the elevator with Blake.

"What's the patient status?"

"Head lac, mulitple internal injuries. GCS 10. I've booked an OR, but we're getting a CT scan."

"Pupils?"

"Reactive, but he's not speaking- I think he has a head lac."

"Okay, but he's bleeding out fast, watch him in there."

"Understood." Penny nodded.

The patient was transferred to the CT scanner as Penny stood by his side. She looked behind her through the window of the CT room. Kepner had paged Dr. Shepherd and the two were examining the scan. Kepner pointed to the screen and Shepherd nodded.

"Okay Blake, we found a bleed, we're going to do both surgeries, let's go." Kepner said through the intercom. But Penny didn't miss the flinch on Shepherd's face. As she pushed him out of the CT room she heard the two doctors arguing.

"She's on my service Shepherd, she made the right call. She deserves to be in the OR." Kepner said.

"This time. This time she made the right call. But I am not working with her today, so you either replace your resident, or you replace me, which do you prefer?" Shepherd snapped.

Kepner looked at the patient, then looked back at Penny. "I'm sorry Dr. Blake, you should...go back to the pit and check on the other patients."

"Yeah, of course." Penny retreated down the hall, choking back tears. She would not break down.

xxx

Her shift over, she packed her bag and was leaving the residents lounge when she bumped into Kepner. "oh, sorry."

"It's okay." Kepner said. She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Um Dr. Blake, the patient made it, you did good."

"Oh..." Relief flooded her. It felt good.

"Look, Dr. Shepherd was... well she shouldn't have done that, I should've let you on the surgery."

"No, it's okay I get it."

"It's just hard, because it's...it's the anniversary of Derek's death." Kepner forced out in one breath.

"oh." Penny said. She felt suddenly nauseaus. No wonder she had that dream.

"Yeah, so Shepherd was having a bad day."

"Okay, well um, thanks."

Penny continued on her way out the hospital. Since she had been assigned to Kepner's service, the dreams had been coming more frequently. And seeing doctor Shepherd's look today hadn't helped. She had to do something. Being a better doctor wasn't enough this time.

Then a thought occured to her. She would have to make some phone calls, but she could do something at least.

It was a few days later when they arrived at the hospital. Penny escorted them to a private room, and then paged Kepner.

xxx

"Kepner? You paged me?" Amelia said as she strolled down the hall. Kepner and Blake were standing outside of a private visitors room. It was certainly an unusual place to be paged to.

Meredith was standing there too. A confused look on her face.

"What's going on? What are we all doing here?" Amelia asked.

"Umm," Kepner started.

"It's okay," Blake said. "I'll explain."

"You didn't kill someone again did you?" Amelia blurted.

"Amelia!" Kepner snapped.

"Well sorry," She said, but she didn't mean it. Not one bit.

"Well?" Meredith asked. "I have a surgery so make this quick."

Penny took a deep breath. "I invited a couple people here to see you both. They were with Dr. Shepherd when he- before he- They were the last people he...spoke to before he died."

Amelia stared through the window at the two people inside. It was a mother and a daughter. She had heard that Derek saved some people that day, but she could never bring herself to think any more about it.

"Sarah is the mother, and Winnie is the daughter... Um Winnie is the one who told me Derek saved the other people involved in the accident." Penny continued."I think...Winnie would very much like to meet you." Penny said.

Amelia just stared again through the window. They were the last people he spoke to, the last people that saw him alive, really alive.

Meredith's expression was unreadable. "I...I um have to go... but Amelia you should maybe..." Her voice trailed off and she touched her eye, stopping an unshed tear. She sighed heavily and walked back to the elevator.

Kepner stood in front of the door. "Amelia, do you want to see them?"

"Yeah," Amelia said. She glanced at Penny who was looking at the floor. "I do."

xxx

Kepner and Blake entered the room first, and Amelia followed them in. The room was small, too small for five people, but after Blake made introductions Amelia was left alone with Sarah and Winnie.

"You can call me Amy. Derek always called me Amy." Amelia blurted.

For a few moments they all sat in silence. Finally Sarah spoke up. "That day... was the scariest day of my life. But he got Winnie out of the car, and he made her help- so she could be useful. I was so worried about her, about me- I thought I was going to die. But he kept coming back to me, checking on me. And when he finally pulled me out of the car, I knew we were going to be okay."

"That's Derek, always the hero." Amelia shook her head.

"He made sure everyone was okay," The girl, Winnie said. "He said it was a beautiful day to save lives."

"He said that?" Amelia's voice broke as she remembered how often Derek had said that before he entered surgery, and now it was something she said.

"He showed me something." Winnie said. She walked up to Amelia and held her hand. She put two fingers on her pulse point. "You have a pulse- so you're not dead."

 _I'm not dead._ Amelia thought. Winnie started to cry. "I felt his pulse... He wasn't dead. He was supposed to stay... not dead. I told him!"

"Shh," Sarah said. She pulled her daughter close. "She saw him before they operated on him. She told me she had to go to the bathroom."

A sick feeling rose to Amelia's stomach- that girl had seen her brother all smashed up and broken. "Winnie, it's okay- it wasn't your fault." Her heart broke for the girl. "These things happen, but you didn't do anything to hurt him. You didn't hurt him okay?"

Winnie sobbed in her mothers arms. Sarah sighed. "In her head, she knows that, but sometimes she does blame herself."

Amelia nodded. She understood. She understood more than they would ever know. She reached over and held Winnie's hand. "He wanted to. He wanted to stay alive. I know he did. But there was just too much damage and he could only take so much. The good part is that he helped you and your mom and those other people. It is not your fault Winnie. He is in a better place and he is happy. I know my brother and he is probably watching over you right now. Just like he did with your mom."

"You think so?"

"Yeah...I do." Amelia reached for Winnie's wrist and felt for her pulse. "You're alive. He wouldn't want it any other way."

Winnie gave a little smile. "Can you tell me about him?"

Amelia smiled. For the next hour, she told this young girl all the sweet and funny stories she could remember. She told her how he loved ferry boats and played hockey, and how he protected her from bullies at school, and how he became a brain surgeon. She told her how he got married on a post it and how he adopted a kid from Africa. She told Winnie how she sometimes got mad at him, but he always came back and tried to make things right. Finally she had nothing more to say.

"Well, um it was good that you came, I needed some closure, and this helped... you helped." Amelia said.

"I'm glad we met, Amy." Sarah said. She wrapped her arms around Amelia's small frame. Winnie joined in on the other side. It felt good. Something was lifted off her shoulders. She was lighter.

xxx

Meredith had completed her surgery and had just picked up Zola from Callie's office. She hopped in the elevator and pressed the button for the main floor. Then she saw who was standing beside her. It was Sarah and Winnie. Meredith breathed a loud sigh and stared straight ahead, ignoring them. They just brought up too many hard memories for her. Derek, in that room, in the ICU. His last breath.

"I remember you." Winnie said.

Meredith just tried to ignore her.

"I remember you."

Meredith cleared her throat. "What?"

"At the hospital. I saw you, and her," She pointed to Zola. "Are you Derek's wife?"

"Winnie," Sarah said.

"He wanted to stay alive." Winnie said to Meredith. "I know he did. But he could only take so much. It's not your fault. He's in a better place and he's happy. He's probably watching over you right now. Just like he did with me."

Meredith fought back tears, the words that Winnie said to her were the same words she often told Zola and Bailey. Having a child speak them back to her had a profound effect. But she couldn't speak. She could only look at Winnie with a sideways glance and try to contain her grief.

xxx

Penny had just scrubbed out of a bowel resection and was in the elevator heading to the residents lounge to pack up and go home. The doors opened and entered. Penny stared straight ahead as Dr. Shepherd stood beside her. She was used to being ignored.

"Dr. Blake?"

She sighed. What now?"Dr. Shepherd?"

"Thanks...For today."

And she felt better, like a weight lifted off her shoulders. _It's a beautiful day to save lives._

 **Thanks for reading everyone! Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** In Honor of Patrick's last episode, I am reposting this. I feel when I first posted this, people were still in shock over Derek's death and maybe a little anti-Penny so it may not have been properly received.


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